THIS IS becoming a bit of a habit. All of a sudden, Wales are on a winning run.

You wait nine months for a victory... and then two come along in the space of four days.

It may only be two, rather than the 14 England had won before entering the Marseilles madhouse.

But when you've lost the previous 11, winning two in a row must feel like scooping the lottery.

Especially so if you're Steve Hansen, who could have been out of a job today had his team lost to the Scots.

But now Hansen can put any worries he had about his immediate future behind him and set his sights on extending the winning run to five matches.

If he can do that, then for all the traumas of the past eight months, the primary objective for 2003 will have been achieved.

That's because the next three matches are against Canada, Tonga and Italy in Pool D of the World Cup in October.

And if Hansen's team can win those, they will be guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals, which is the goal the coach has set himself along.

Of course, it would be foolish to say Wales are out of the woods after wins over eastern European minnows Romania and a profligate Scotland.

But it does at least mean they can head for Australia feeling more confident than they did a week ago after the humiliation against England's seconds.

While Saturday's win over the Scots was the second on the trot, it was also a significant first.

It was the first time Wales had gone through a game without conceding a try for 16 matches, with the previous shut-out coming in the 40-3 victory over Romania last November.

As for the last time they kept their line intact against one of the major rugby-playing nations, you have to go back almost a decade to February 1994 when they beat Ireland 17-15 in Dublin, with all the Irish points coming from the boot of Eric Elwood.

So no mean achievement then and it's fair to say that it was Wales' heroic defence which was the biggest plus to come out of Saturday's game.

In all, they made 148 tackles as they soaked up wave after wave of Scottish attacks, most notably during 20 minutes of incessant pressure during the second half.

The visitors completed 201 passes during the game, but not one of them was a scoring pass, for which their hosts must take a lot of credit.

There was a determination and a resolve behind the "they shall not pass" mentality shown by Wales which was in marked contrast to the week before against England.

Last Monday, rugby legend Gareth Edwards said in his Western Mail column that if the Welsh players thought so much of Hansen they should show it through their performances.

In fairness, they did just that against the Scots, putting their bodies on the line to effectively safeguard the coach's position.

In return, Hansen was quick to praise his charges afterwards, saying anyone who questioned their commitment and passion was either drunk or needed to go to hospital.

What a difference a week - and two wins - makes then.

In World Cup terms, it could be seen that the two victories will serve different purposes.

While the young guns' triumph over Romania will have a greater bearing on hopes for 2007, the Scotland game could have a direct influence on this year's tournament, not just in terms of squad selection, but the starting line-up for the opening game against Canada.

The woeful performance from the established first team against England had invited bids from other players to get into that side.

And a number of players put in substantial bids on Saturday.

In particular, the midfield triangle of Ceri Sweeney, Iestyn Harris and Tom Shanklin made a powerful case for inclusion en bloc.

Sweeney and Harris look to have developed a fine understanding, while Shanklin showed an ability to break the line and keep his legs pumping through the tackles, which is something Wales have been lacking behind.

There were also compelling performances from the Jones boys - Duncan and Adam - at prop, with Duncan making a big play for the number one jersey.

Along with flankers Colin Charvis and Richard Parkes, they give the pack the look of the Hair Bear Bunch, but there was nothing cartoonish about the performances of any of those four.

Parks fought tenaciously for every scrap of loose ball, while skipper Charvis led by example with an immense display in attack and defence.

The unattached back-rower said afterwards that it might have been his last game in Wales, which suggests his future may lie overseas after the World Cup.

If this was his swansong on home soil, then it was one to remember.

He made a remarkable 23 tackles and twice scattered Scotsmen in his wake with rampaging runs. If he could just have added the final pass to those breaks, it would have been a near-perfect display.

The line-out remains something of a problem, with the hosts losing three of their 10 throws.

This contributed to a dearth of ball, with Wales only spending 20 minutes in possession during the whole game.

They also conceded too many penalties - 17 - for comfort, although that was partly a consequence of being under the cosh for so long.

And they still made too many errors - 26. This meant they made a mistake 39 per cent of the time they had the ball.

That's not as bad as the 45 per cent figure from last week's English shocker, but it shows there's still a lot of work to do on the skills front over the coming five weeks.

Scoring was limited to the boot in the first half, with Harris landing four penalties to two from his opposite number Brendan Laney to give Wales a 12-6 interval lead.

There were try-scoring chances, with the best of them falling to the home side.

With no one between him and the line, Sweeney knocked on as he stooped to pick up his own charge down of Laney's attempted clearance kick.

And then there were Charvis' carbon copy bursts, where he twice smashed his way through a succession of Scots defenders only for his inside passes out of Glenn Metcalfe's last-ditch tackles to go to ground on both occasions.

After the break, Harris and Laney exchanged penalties before the game's one and only try.

It stemmed from a turnover, with Sweeney pouncing to snap up possession after Gregor Townsend's loose pass went to ground.

Harris then swung out a huge ball to Shanklin, who stepped inside three defenders before being hauled down just short.

From the resulting ruck, Dwayne Peel fed Michael Owen, who dummied to Matthew Watkins and stepped inside Metcalfe to score his first Test try.

That gave Wales a 20-9 lead and then it was down to their defence, as they spent some 34 minutes penned in their own half during the second period, breaking out briefly to earn a Sweeney drop goal.

The Scots huffed and puffed, but could find no way through and their somewhat ham-fisted efforts were best summed up in the game's last movement where they finally worked a two-man overlap only for those two men - Danielli and Dall - to get in each other's way.

But, for all the failings of the opposition, it was another win for Wales and, having demanded one for so long, it would be churlish not to acknowledge that achievement.